Performing for the fans in Dunedin

 June 26, 1964 

Check out the fans sitting behind the Beatles.  The seem so calm for being so close to them. 

Not impressed with the Beatles

This is a story about a woman who was a young reporter in Dunedin in 1964 and interviewed the Beatles.   From the photo she is holding, it appears that she is interviewing George while Nick Collins was interviewing Ringo.   This story was from the Tulsa World newspaper and was written by World Scene Writer Jerry Wofford.

The Fab Four didn't seem that fab to Mary Lehnert when she met them in New Zealand in 1964.

The Beatles had already been on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and sent America into a frenzy. Due to contractual obligations, they had to appear in Dunedin, New Zealand, where Lehnert was a young reporter assigned to cover their stop in the small city.

"We knew they were the next big thing probably, but they were not very impressive to me," said Lehnert, who now lives in Tulsa and operates the White Rose antique shop, 1344 E. 11th St., with her husband.

 And 50 years after her interview, Lehnert fondly remembers her brush with fame.

She still isn't all that impressed with the boys from Liverpool, though. Nothing personal; she just prefers classical.

In the early 1960s, Lehnert was a young woman in London who wanted to break into the world of the BBC. But without experience, she knew it would be a long struggle. So, she decided to go somewhere where she could get a job and work her way up. She found it in New Zealand.

Lehnert happened to be the reporter assigned to meet the Beatles and cover the press conference that day.

It may have been a small city on New Zealand's southern island, but the enthusiasm seen in crowds around the world was waiting for the Beatles when they got to Dunedin, too.

"We had all the screaming girls and the police barriers were out, so we knew they were a big thing, but in those days we just didn't know they were going to be such a phenomenon," Lehnert said.

She still wasn't blown away.

"I remember looking at them and thinking they look so English," Lehnert said. "They had very pale faces. They looked like they hadn't seen the sun. And they were dressed in the mod look of the '60s.

"It was the Edwardian era they were imitating with these tight jackets and drainpipe trousers and shiny, pointed shoes. This is the way they appeared in New Zealand. I thought they looked like jockeys. They looked like four little waifs to me. What's all the fuss about?"

The reporters were all shuffled into a ballroom for the interviews. John Lennon and Paul McCartney answered a few questions but left early, Lehnert said. Ringo Starr and George Harrison stayed behind to keep talking with the press.

But Lehnert was not impressed with the questions being asked by the other reporters.

"Ringo, everything he was being asked was so trite," she said. "He was giving these one-liners. He just had a tonsillectomy and someone said, 'How's your throat, Ringo?' 'Fine. How's yours?' "

Lehnert said that she would never get the answers she needed from that back-and-forth. She was there for the New Zealand Broadcasting Co., and she knew her story would go national, so she needed something more.

Harrison would be her man.

"So I inched my way around — no one stopped me in those days — and I got George because I thought of the two of them he appeared quieter, sort of introspective," Lehnert said. "I thought I would get a little bit more of a sensible kind of interview from him, but I have no idea what I asked him."

It must have been a good question and a good answer, because the story was broadcast across New Zealand.

The moment sticks with Lehnert, a blip on the history of pop culture. After New Zealand, she moved to New York to continue her journalism career but was sidetracked when she met her husband, Warner. They married and traveled the world, Warner Lehnert working in the oil industry. That brought them to Bartlesville and Tulsa, where they have lived for decades.

"We've retired and we're still in Oklahoma because we just like it," she said.

But looking back now with the benefit of hindsight, Lehnert sees the Beatles somewhat as peers. Not in their musical taste or appearance, but they were about the same age, both from England and both striking out across the world to make a name for themselves.

"In a way, you sort of looked at these young fellows coming in from England and there was a feeling that we're all doing this," Lehnert said. "We're all in this together. We were all young at the time, and we were trying to achieve our dreams."

 

The concerts where no one got onstage

The Beatles performed two concerts in Dunedin.   And for the two sets of 20 minutes that the Beatles were on stage, a total frenzy broke out among the fans.  During the 6:00 show, Several hundred fans rushed the stage but were stopped by 30 policemen who were standing shoulder to shoulder and ready to stop the mob.   During the first song of the Beatles set, "I saw her standing there,"  around 12 female fans tried to dive onto the stage, but none of them were successful because the stage was too high.   There were a few minor scuffles and when the fans realized that they were not going to be able to get to the Beatles, they began jumping, dancing, screaming and reaching their hands towards the Beatles.    At one point, the helmets fell off of some of the police and the fans began kicking them around like footballs.

The 8:00pm crowd was extremely loud and made the floor shake from all of the jumping and dancing.  Paul and George both attempted to quiet the fans, but their attempts just made the screams even louder.  


Here are some first hand accounts from those who were there:
  I was a schoolboy with hairy legs and blazing acne at The 8pm Show in Dunedin after sleeping outside the D.I.C. for tickets. We  were in the 8th row from the front and when the Beatles came on - we were at the BACK … hysteria took over - it was Beatlemania.

It was "life changing" … Fab, Gear and Groovy - NZ and certainly Dunedin had never seen anything like it … even the King of Thailand's royal visit to the city paled into insignificance. Anyway … still have my Beatles programme - and was lucky enough to have lunch with George Harrison in Auckland in the 80s when he was out here promoting the book by their chief press guy Alistair Taylor (sic) … that was fun.

At the concert we were about 8 rows from the front and I remember there was this young girl near us and she had a knitted cap with "Ringo" on it.  She threw it up on the stage and John Lennon picked it up and threw it to Ringo.  He caught it on his drumstick and popped it on his head -- and this girl just fainted.  She just passed out.  It was all to much.  Here was Ringo with her hat on his head. --Wayne Mowat





After finding my seat in the front row of the choir stalls of the Dunedin Town Hall, I looked over the edge and realized that I was really, really close to the stage. There was only a short distance from me to where one of The Beatles would be standing!
I sat down but still did not believe that John, Paul, George and Ringo were going to walk on to this stage. I couldn't believe that they had arrived from Britain and were in Dunedin.
It was too big to comprehend!

The entrance to the stage on the left was there; I could see it but no way were they going to walk through there! This was all a dream! If they are really here and do come out from there and walk across the stage towards me, how could I be noticed? How could one girl, amidst 3000 screaming fans, stand out?

I had to be seen by them! I didn't come all this way to not make contact. I had it! I would not scream! I would sit still and quiet and admire them. I wouldn't hear them but I had all their music at home, so that didn't matter.

The screams reached a crescendo that I'd never heard before and there they were, walking across the Dunedin Town Hall stage towards Me! Man, this was unreal!

There they were, in the flesh, their beautiful faces, their beautiful hair flowing, shining, their young, beautiful bodies dressed in the coolest gear in the world! Suits, white shirts and skinny ties were so them!

Their first number; hard to figure which one because nothing was heard except the screams; screams forming a wall of sound, in the air, trapped in the space, unrelenting but there was John, standing just below me, side on to me, so near.

I took a breath and yelled, not a scream but the loudest yell I 'd ever yelled! 'JOHN, JOHN, UP HERE!The unbelievable happened; he turned and looked up, he reached out his most beautiful, talented hand and I reached down!! For a magic moment our hands touched, my hand touched that of John Lennon of The Beatles ...and he smiled!

That was it! That moment was burned into my brain 50 years ago and remains a 'memory gem' which I carry with me. - Patsy K



Further to the Dunedin car journey to the Beetles venue – my then boyfriend (now husband) and I were walking through the octagon on the evening of the concert – aware of the screaming fans waiting around the other side of the town hall – at the front entrance.

Suddenly a car came flat out the wrong way to the back door of the town hall.  Exactly where we were standing the 4 Beetles popped out of the car clutching their guitars.  They said – “shhh don’t tell anyone” as they ran in through the back door.

We were the only people there and had a great view.-- Jenny W.



I was 19 at the time and with a group of friends in the crowd outside the City Hotel in Princes Street, Dunedin. There was sporadic singing going on but I finally got the crowd singing “We Love You Beatles” and directed it from the barrier.  ‘We love you, Beatles, Oh, yes, we do, We love you, Beatles, And we'll be true’ by the Carefrees. As I recall we made enough noise to bring the boys out to the open windows to wave. That of course further inflamed the crowd.

Some of the crowd then migrated to the Town Hall and my friend Neil and I were looking for a way to climb up to the windows on the Harrop Street side but there was no way in. Not to be outdone we mingled with the crowd coming down the stairs out of the 6.30 pm show and made our way up to the toilets on the mezzanine floor where we stood on one of the toilet seats in the “mens”.  That was so our legs wouldn’t be seen under the doors. Once we heard the show had started we waltzed out of the toilets, through the door to the mezzanine and stood just inside beside a policeman.  We like to think we had the best view in the house, especially since it didn’t cost.  My wife-to-be was in the stalls with her wee sister, now 60 years old. They had to pay of course.  -- Brian D

Three Beatle press conference

Of all the press conferences the Beatles gave while they were touring, only a very few of them didn't not have all of the Beatles present.  Of course the ones during Ringo's illness and Jimmie Nichol took Ringo's place, Milwaukee in 1964--John was not there because  he had a sore throat and wanted to save his voice for the concert and Dundin, New Zealand.   John was not present at the press conference because he was still angry about the way he was treated and how he got hurt when they were entering the hotel earlier.  


John apparently didn't miss out on anything because the press conference was crowded and full of the same old silly questions that had (even by late June of 1964) been answered a million times before.

One of the only photos I could locate of the press conference...

In this story from the NZ Listener (June 1984), Nick Collins talks about the press conference and how he was a decoy for the Beatles.

Every man and his dog was at the Dunedin press conference asking idiotic questions.  'Which one is which?  Have any of you played for the Rolling Stones?'  There is a photo of me interviewing Ringo.  I'm in my flashiest suit and my hair is Brykreemed back.  Ringo was heavy into country music-  he told me he had a collection of Hank Williams and said if he had his way, he'd do more county.           Later that night the promoters asked me to be a decoy while the Beatles sneaked into the Town Hall .  The others were Russell Clark, Max Merritt and one of the Meteors.  The promoter said, 'If you do this for us, you'll get to meet them later for supper.  Turn your collar up, comb your hair forward, put your head down and race through the crowd to the limousine.  It's as simple as that lads.'  We all thought it was great fun, so we did it, but as we did, the crowd surged forward and there were people yanking and pulling at our hair.  At that moment I wondered why I said yes, because it was quite terrifying.        Before the car could move, the noise inside was deafening with everybody bashing on the outside and there was lipstick smeared all over the car.  So off we went and I can still see two old ladies outside Hallenstein's waving frantically so we got right into the act and waved back.   Meanwhile the Beatles scurried out the back entrance of the hotel amongst trash cans and got into a little Ford.  They went around to the bottom end of Maire Place and came in the side entrance.  They were in and out before anyone knew.       I said to Paul McCartney, 'I can't believe you go through that performance every time you leave a hotel-- you must be battered and bruised.'"

 

Coming into Dunedin

The Beatles were late for their scheduled arrival in Dunedin on June 26, 1964.  The reason for their tardiness is that someone had called in a bomb threat on their airplane.   I think sometimes in 2014 we think that bomb threats are a more modern day occurrence, but things like this did happen 50 years ago as well.    Precautions were made and all of the Beatles and their party's luggage was opened and checked before they left the hotel and before they boarded the airplane.  

No bomb was ever found and the Beatles landed in Dunedin, New Zealand without any issues.  Some of the area schools allowed the students to line up near the fence to see the Beatles go by and other schools refused to allow it.   I bet if you were at a school that didn't allow it, you did not learn much that day because all you could think about was how the Beatles were going by.

When the Beatles arrived at City Hotel, the police were not prepared for the 2000 fans that were waiting.   Many of the fans had been bused into Dunedin from more rural areas of the country.   When the Beatles car pulled up, the fans pushed forward and the police were basically helpless.   The policemen's helmet were knocked off and went flying through the crowd and the barrier broke, allowing for a swarm of fans to get close to the Beatles car.   Ten minutes later, the Beatles were taken out of the car.  John was the last of the guys to exit and the police literally picked John Lennon up off the ground and THREW him at the front door!   John went flying and hit the elevator in the foyer where he ripped his pants and his knee was bloody and bruised from the cut.   John was obviously angry about all of this and he left for the room without wanting to talk to anyone.

Notice the arrow pointing out the Beatles....what a mess!

Paul was angry when he told a reporter, "We told your Bobby's here that there would be crowds and there would be pushing and shoving and they said to us, 'don't tell us about crowd control laddie, we've had Vera Lynn through here, twice.'"


The crowd began to chant the popular, "We want the Beatles" and sure enough the boys appeared on the balcony for the cheers of the fans.  I couldn't find any photos of the Beatles on the balcony in Dunedin, and so I am not sure if John had calmed down by then or not.